Internal docs detail alleged abuses by US immigration agents: HRW | Migration News

HRW received more than 160 internal reports that provided insight into allegations of physical, sexual and legal violations.

Human Rights Watch has received more than 160 internal reports from US immigration authorities documenting alleged assaults against asylum seekers by federal agents.

The rights group described the incidents in detail in a report published on Thursday. These include allegations of physical, sexual and verbal abuse, as well as breaches of due process and discriminatory treatment that occurred between 2016 and 2021.

Clara Long, the US deputy director of the group, described the behavior described in the reports as “mind-boggling”.

“These internal government documents make it clear that reports of serious assault – assault, sexual abuse and discriminatory treatment by US agents – are an open secret within the DHS,” she said in a statement Thursday.

The documents were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, and the status of the detailed investigation was not immediately clear. HRW said it provided summaries of some of the incidents to the Department of Homeland Security, which is responsible for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but has not received any updates.

Still, the report provides insight into some of the serious complaints immigration officials have received in recent years.

While most of the reports appear to be during former US President Donald Trump’s tenure, who made closing US borders and warding off immigrants an important part of his political platform, his successor Joe Biden has also been put to the test.

The Biden government has struggled to reconcile its promises of humane treatment of migrants and undocumented asylum seekers with an increase in border crossings along the southern border. On Wednesday, US media reported that arrests of border guards in fiscal year 2021 rose to the highest ever recorded – 1.7 million.

Meanwhile, the expulsion of mostly Haitian migrants from a camp on the US-Mexico border in September led to recent allegations of inhumane treatment by immigration authorities.

Pictures of border officials on horseback wielding whip-like cords against migrants and asylum seekers further fueled the outrage. Officials promised a speedy investigation but have not released any results.

Physical abuse and failure to follow due process

The majority of the records analyzed appear to come from so-called “credible fear interviews,” a legally mandated process by which asylum seekers can express why they cannot safely return to their home countries, according to the HRW.

Among the cases of physical abuse, one woman reported that she was repeatedly beaten to the ground in 2017 when she was arrested by border officials near Mexicali, causing bleeding. In 2018, a man told authorities that he passed out after being hit by an agent and later by doctors that he had had brain swelling.

Meanwhile, a San Francisco asylum inspector documented a mother reporting that her young daughter was “undressed and inappropriately touched” by a guard after she was detained.

In another case, a man reported that in 2018 an immigration officer tried to solicit sex in exchange for his release.

The documented abuses go beyond attacks, including at least 27 cases where authorities may have violated the asylum seeker’s right to due process.

In many cases, asylum seekers alleged that the authorities recorded inaccurate statements about whether it was safe for them to return to their home country or forced them to sign documents they did not understand.

In one case, a man said a border guard told him “he would be taken to a prison where they would rape him” when he refused to sign a document.

A DHS spokesman told Reuters after the report was released that the agency “will not tolerate any form of abuse or misconduct”.

The report calls on the US Congress, the Biden administration and the US Department of Justice and Homeland Security to investigate the allegations.